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Alec Baldwin-starring Rust to receive world premiere at Polish festival

Alec Baldwin - The US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter says it has been told by "an outside source with knowledge of the situation" that the actor will not be present at the premiere
Alec Baldwin - The US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter says it has been told by "an outside source with knowledge of the situation" that the actor will not be present at the premiere

The Alec Baldwin-starring Rust is to receive its world premiere at the Camerimage International Film Festival in Toruń, Poland in November, three years after the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed on the Western's set in New Mexico.

US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter says it has been told by "an outside source with knowledge of the situation" that Baldwin, who is also the "lead producer" of Rust, will not be present at the premiere.

In October 2021, a gun Baldwin was holding went off during rehearsals on the Rust set, killing Halyna Hutchins and wounding the film's director, Joel Souza.

The film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, was sentenced to 18 months in prison last April after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter for accidentally loading Baldwin's prop gun with a live round.

Baldwin's own trial collapsed in July when it emerged that prosecutors had not turned over a batch of bullets that detectives had found during their investigation into the October 2021 tragedy.

The late Halyna Hutchins, pictured in Park City, Utah, in January 2019

He had denied responsibility for Hutchins's death, saying the gun went off on its own after he pointed it at the cinematographer and cocked it. The actor denied pulling the trigger.

Last week, a judge in the US ruled that Gutierrez's conviction will stand, dismissing her argument that the withheld evidence could have changed the jury's verdict.

Announcing the world premiere of Rust, the Camerimage festival said it would hold a panel discussion after the screening to honour Hutchins's memory with Rust's writer-director Joel Souza in attendance.

Also in attendance will be Hutchins's fellow cinematographer Bianca Cline, who completed work on the film when production resumed in 2023 and who, according to the festival, "managed to remarkably replicate Halyna's style".

"The discussion will also touch on important issues in the film industry," the festival added.

"Halyna's story will serve as a starting point for a conversation about the role of women in cinematography and their contributions to the art of filmmaking.

"Another key topic of the discussion will be safety on set."

The Camerimage International Film Festival runs from 16-23 November.

Additional Reporting: AFP, Reuters

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